News

Ventura County residents and visitors will have an opportunity to raise sails, sing sea shanties, and learn about life on a 19th-century tall ship when the Hawaiian Chieftain visits the Channel Islands Harbor in December.

This one-of-a-kind tall ship based out of Grays Harbor, Washington will be docking at the Channel Islands Harbor from December 15th – 20th. The Hawaiian Chieftain, a replica of a sailing vessel that ran the trading routes in the 1800s, will be open for walk-on tours and adventure sails. A crew of 10-14 people will be on board to answer questions.

Visiting this vessel, docked near the Ventura County Harbor Patrol offices, (3900 Pelican Way Oxnard, CA 93035) is a perfect way to spend a few hours at the Harbor. Here is the schedule for the Hawaiian Chieftain:

More than 250 middle and high school girls will be participating in the second Girls STEM Day hosted by the Career Education Department of the Oxnard Union High School District. The event provides opportunities to encourage girls to pursue STEM-related careers.

While the girls experience three workshops from female engineers in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math as they develop skills for the 21st century, their parents will be receiving information on how to encourage their daughters to pursue higher education in the STEM pipeline, an overview of the local higher education options, and how to afford college through financial aid options.

The keynote speaker will be Silvia Faulstich, a Flight Test Engineer at Port Mugu, supporting Unmanned and Manned aircraft. She is a strong supporter of STEM recruitment and volunteers in many areas in her community.

This event is made possible through numerous other partners, such as the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce, Richard Favor, Food Share, the Port of Hueneme, Californians for Energy Independence, Southern California Edison, CSU-Channel Islands, Oxnard College, VC STEM, and the Ventura County Civic Alliance.

WHEN: December 2, 2017 ~ 8:15 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.WHERE: Hueneme High School, Oxnard, CAWHAT: Second Annual Girls STEM Day with Oxnard Union High School DistrictWHO: Oxnard Middle School students and local female engineers; andKey Note Speaker Silvia Faulstich of Naval Air Warfare Center, Point Mugu

About VCCAThe Ventura County Civic Alliance (VCCA) is a regional collaborative of civic leaders representing a balanced mix of 3E — economic, environmental and social-equity perspectives. Its mission is to work together with our community to promote a healthy and sustainable future for Ventura County. VCCA is an initiative of the Ventura County Community Foundation. For more information about the Alliance and how to join, go online to www.CivicAlliance.org.

About OUHSDThe Oxnard Union High School District (OUHSD) serves Oxnard, Camarillo and Port Hueneme. Founded in 1905, the district currently operates 10 schools (seven comprehensive high schools, one continuation high school, one middle college school and one adult school). More than 300,000 residents live within district, which employs over 700 teachers and oversees the education of over 20,000 students with an annual operating budget of over $170 million.

This is the fourth in a series of articles on changes to 2018 employment laws. An important new law requires small employers to provide new parents with up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave. Other laws affect state wage replacement benefits.

Parental Leave for Small Employers​

SB 63, the New Parent Leave Act, requires small businesses with 20 or more employees to provide eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave to bond with a new child within one year of the child’s birth, adoption or foster care placement. SB 63 only requires employers to provide parental leave; it does not require employers to provide leave for other reasons, such as a family member’s medical issue. The Act covers all employers with 20 or more employees.

To be eligible for the new parent leave, an employee must:

Have worked for the employer more than 12 months;

Have worked at least 1,250 hours during the prior 12-month period; and

Work at a worksite where there are at least 20 employees within a 75-mile radius.

This new law will have the greatest impact on employers with 20 to 49 employees who are not currently required to provide baby bonding leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act or the state California Family Rights Act.

If an employee takes this leave, an employer must maintain and pay for coverage under a group health plan at the same level and conditions that coverage would have been provided if the employee had continued working.

Before the leave starts, an employer must provide the employee with a guarantee of reinstatement to the same or comparable position. Failure to provide the guarantee will be deemed a violation of the law, as if the employer refused to provide leave.

Under SB 63, an employer can be sued if an employee alleges that the employer:

Did not provide the 12 weeks of protected leave;

Failed to return the employee to the same or a comparable position;

Failed to maintain benefits while the employee was out on leave; or

Took any adverse employment action against the employee for taking the leave.

Paid Family Leave and SDI Benefits

Keep in mind that a bill from 2016 affects Paid Family Leave (PFL) and State Disability Insurance (SDI) benefits starting on January 1, 2018. This bill, AB 908, increases the amount of PFL or SDI benefits an employee can receive to either 60 percent or 70 percent of earnings, depending on the employee’s income. There will still be a maximum weekly benefit limit on the amount received.

AB 908 also removes the current seven-day waiting period that exists before an employee is eligible to receive PFL benefits (it is not removed from SDI).

Employees who are eligible for leave under the New Parent Leave Act will be able to apply for PFL wage replacement benefits.

Unemployment Insurance

Under AB 1695, domestic service employers will no longer be allowed to file wage reports by telephone.Also remember that a law from 2015 requires employers to electronically submit all employment tax returns​, wage reports and payroll tax deposits to the Employment Development Department (EDD). The requirement became effective on January 1, 2017, for employers with 10 or more employees. Beginning January 1, 2018, all employers will be required to electronically file and pay.

As always, employers with questions about new and existing employment laws should seek the advice of legal counsel. The Oxnard Chamber strives to keep its members informed about new laws that could affect their business operations.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced cost of living adjustments affecting 401(k) pension plans and other retirement-related items for tax year 2018 — including an increase in the amount employees can contribute to their 401(k) plans.

Some pension plan limitations, including those governing 401(k) plans, changed this year because the increase in the cost-of-living index met the statutory thresholds that trigger their adjustment.

Other limits remain unchanged because they did not meet the thresholds.

Highlights for 2018 include:

The elective deferral (contribution) limit for employees who participate in 401(k) plans increased from $18,000 to $18,500. This also applies to 403(b) plans, most 457 plans and the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan.

Employees aged 50 and over have the same “catch-up” contribution limit of $6,000.

The limit on annual contributions to an Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA) remains unchanged at $5,500. The additional catch-up contribution limit for individuals aged 50 and over is not subject to an annual cost-of-living adjustment and remains $1,000.

Employers may want to consider communicating these maximum contribution rates to employees. Retirement plan participants given access to professional advice are more likely to contribute the maximum amount than those without advice (45 percent to 36 percent), according to Natixis Global Asset Management’s 2016 Survey of Defined Contribution Plan Participants.

The Oxnard Convention & Visitors Bureau is pleased to announce the appointment of its new California Welcome Center (CWC) Manager, Kay Faust Carter. The CWC is located at the Collection Riverpark at 2786 Seaglass Way.

Carter brings a diverse background in communications, business and professional experience in the wine industry. Before joining the CWC, Carter served as a Wine Specialist and Wine Club Coordinator for the Bacchus Wine Shop in Millbrae, California where she provided customer service and management for the wine club members. Before that, she worked as an Office Coordinator at San Francisco Wine School and Business Office and Operations Analyst at The Rare Wine Company in Brisbane, California. She also held the position of Tasting Room Associate at Thomas Fogarty Winery in Woodside, California.

Besides working within the wine industry, Carter also served as Director of Finance and Human Resources for Mercy High School in Burlingame, California where she managed financial and investment activity at the school while also supervising all human resource functions and overseeing the overall operation.

Carter holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications/Journalism/Video from the University of Colorado and a Master of Business Administration in Management Studies/Marketing emphasis from San Francisco State University. In addition, she has an Advanced Level III certification (with merit) and Intermediate Level II certification (with distinction) from the Wine & Spirits Education Trust and recently completed the classroom portion of the Certified Specialist of Wine from the Society of Wine Educators via the San Francisco Wine School.

For more information, call the Oxnard Convention & Visitors Bureau at 805-385-7545.

About Oxnard Convention & Visitors BureauOxnard Convention & Visitors Bureau (OCVB) is a non-profit organization designed to increase visitor expenditures, and tourism revenue opportunities through the promotion of Oxnard as a premier travel destination. Oxnard is an easy drive up the coast from Los Angeles or from the northern portions of California. Visitors are encouraged to enjoy Oxnard’s uncrowded beaches, explore the many diverse attractions and outdoor adventures that are unique to the area. A wide variety of hotel accommodations are available ranging from mid-priced rooms to oceanfront and seaside settings. For more information, call the California Welcome Center at 805-988-0717.

This is the third article in a series outlining new employment laws for 2018. Today we are looking at discrimination, harassment and retaliation protections. It seems as though a day cannot go by without another case of sexual harassment in the news. Make sure your business isn’t making those kinds of headlines.

Several new laws expand employee protections for 2018. Many of these laws focus on gender equality and gender identity/gender expression protections.

California employers with 50 or more employees must provide supervisors with two hours of sexual harassment prevention training every two years.

Under SB 396, covered employers will have to make sure that any mandatory training course they use also discusses harassment based on gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation. The training content must include practical examples intended to address these types of harassment.

SB 396 also requires employers to display a poster on transgender rights that the Department of Fair Employment and Housing will develop.

Harassment Prevention Training: Farm Labor Contractors

SB 295 affects the sexual harassment prevention training that farm labor contractors must provide in order to receive a farm labor contractor's license. Contractors must now provide training in the language understood by the employee (or interpret into that language). Contractors applying for license renewal also must provide the Labor Commissioner with a list of all harassment prevention training materials and resources used and the total number of individuals trained.

Failure to follow the farm labor contractor training requirements will now be a Labor Code violation; a penalty of $100 for each violation may be assessed by the Labor Commissioner.

Gender identification: Female, Male or Nonbinary

With the signing of SB 179, California became the first state in the nation to allow residents to choose from three equally recognized gender options — female, male or nonbinary — on state-issued identification cards, birth certificates and driver’s licenses. (Oregon recognizes the nonbinary gender marker solely on driver’s licenses.)

For changes to birth certificates, the law is effective on September 1, 2018. For changes to driver’s licenses, the law is effective January 1, 2019.

The bill also makes it easier for individuals to change their gender on legal documents. Individuals will no longer have to show that they have undergone “clinically appropriate treatment.” Instead, an individual can make the legal gender change by attesting, under penalty of perjury, that the request is to conform the person’s legal gender to the person’s gender identity and not for a fraudulent purpose. This portion of the bill is effective September 1, 2018.

Also remember that FEHA transgender regulations from earlier this year require employers to honor an employee’s request to be identified by a preferred gender, name or pronoun, including gender-neutral pronouns.

Fair Pay Act Expansion

AB 46 extends California’s Fair Pay Act — which prohibits wage discrimination on the basis of gender, race and ethnicity — to cover public employers; existing law only covers private employers. While public employers will now be covered, the Labor Code provision that makes willful violation of the Fair Pay Act a misdemeanor only applies to a private employer, not a public employer.

Data Collection: Sexual Orientation

AB 677 requires various state departments — including the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the Department of Industrial Relations, EDD, and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency — to collect voluntary, self-identified information pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity in the regular course of collecting other types of demographic data. These labor agencies must comply as early as possible, but no later than July 1, 2019. State entities may also collect the information from a third-party, including a private employer, that already provides aggregated data to a state department.

LGBT Rights for Long-Term Care Facility Residents

SB 219 enacts the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Long-Term Care Facility Resident’s Bill of Rights, strengthening anti-discrimination protections for LGBT individuals living in long-term care facilities. Under the bill, it is unlawful for a facility or facility staff to take certain actions because of a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or HIV status, such as:

Willfully and repeatedly fail to use a resident’s preferred name or pronoun;

Deny admission to a long-term care facility;

Transfer or refuse to transfer a resident within a facility or to another facility;

Evict or discharge a resident from a facility;

Prohibit residents from wearing clothes that are allowed for any other resident; and

Restrict the right to associate with other residents.

Facilities are required to post a notice about the protections (the exact language of the notice is specified in the bill). SB 219 also imposes recordkeeping requirements on facilities.

Human Trafficking

Certain California businesses are required by law to post a notice containing information about human trafficking and slavery. AB 260 extends the list of covered businesses that must post the notice to include hotels, motels and bed and breakfast inns, as defined.

And SB 225 requires that the human trafficking notice include not only the number individuals can call for services and support, but also the new number for those who wish to send text messages.

SB 225 makes other revisions to the model notice, which the California Department of Justice will complete. Businesses will not be required to post the updated model notice until on or after January 1, 2019. Monetary penalties for not complying with the notice requirement range from $500 for the first offense to $1,000 for each subsequent offense.

Anti-Discrimination Protections for Veterans

AB 1710 expands the current protections for members of the armed services by prohibiting discrimination in all “terms, conditions, or privileges” of employment. This legislation conforms state law to the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) by protecting servicemembers from hostile work environments in their civilian jobs.

Health Facilities: Whistleblower Protections​Existing law makes it illegal to discriminate or retaliate against an employee who raises a concern about conditions at a health facility. AB 1102 increases the maximum fine for a willful violation of these provisions from $20,000 to $75,000.

As always, employers with questions about new and existing employment laws should seek the advice of legal counsel. The Oxnard Chamber strives to keep its members informed about new laws that could affect their business operations.

The 2017 legislative year was a busy one for the California Chamber of Commerce and other employer advocates.

Nevertheless, CalChamber policy advocates, together with members, allied associations and local chambers of commerce, stopped many harmful proposals, won amendments to remove damaging provisions in other proposals, and helped pass bills to invest in the state’s future.

In 2017, the CalChamber tracked 214 California bills, stopping 91 (including 25 job killers), securing amendments to 31 (16 of which were signed into law) and backing 16 bills that were signed into law.

Job KillersStrong advocacy by the CalChamber, members, local chambers of commerce and allied employers prevented all but three job killer bills from passing the Legislature.

On his last day to act on legislation, the Governor vetoed AB 1209 (Gonzalez Fletcher; D-San Diego), which would have imposed a new data collection mandate on California employers and exposed them to public criticism and costly litigation.

​CalChamber identified AB 1209 as a job killer because it would have: created a false impression of wage discrimination or unequal pay where none exists, therefore subjecting employers to unfair public criticism; exposed employers to significant litigation costs to defend against meritless claims; and imposed costs on the Secretary of State to collect and post the data.

AB 1209 required employers with 500 or more employees in California to collect data on the difference in mean and median salaries paid to men and women in the same job title or classification and submit the information to the Secretary of State. The state then would have posted the company’s salary information—with the company name attached—on a publicly accessible website.

Session HighlightsFollowing are highlights from the entire legislative session. For a list of all bills sent to the Governor this year, see the Final Status Report on Major Business Bills.Labor and Employment​As usual, labor matters were among the hardest fought issues on the CalChamber agenda. The 2018 new laws will include:

• Legislation mandating that small businesses with as few as 20 employees provide 12 weeks of parental baby bonding leave to employees (SB 63; Jackson; D-Santa Barbara). If an employee takes this leave, the new law prohibits an employer from refusing to maintain and pay for health care coverage. Employers can be sued for failing to provide the leave, failing to return the employee to the same or comparable position after the leave, failing to maintain benefits while the employee is out on leave or taking adverse employment action against an employee who uses the leave. More information on SB 63 appeared in the October 12 special Alert.

• A new law banning employers from asking about, or considering, a job applicant’s prior salary history in determining whether to hire the applicant or how much to pay the applicant. An employer can also be penalized for not providing a pay scale for the position upon demand (AB 168; Eggman; D-Stockton).

• Ban-the-box legislation prohibiting employers with five or more employees from asking about criminal history information on job applications and from inquiring about, or considering, conviction history information at any time before a conditional offer of employment has been made (AB 1008; McCarty; D-Sacramento).

​• The Immigrant Worker Protection Act that shields workers from immigration enforcement while on the job. The legislation prohibits employers from providing federal immigration enforcement agents access to a business without a warrant and requires employers to notify employees of Form I-9 inspections performed by federal immigration enforcement officials (AB 450; Chiu; D-San Francisco).

Transportation and Infrastructure

Legislation signed earlier this year with CalChamber support will provide long-term revenues to fix roads, freeways and bridges across California and put more dollars toward transit and safety (SB 1; Beall; D-San Jose). The fuel tax hikes will go into effect on November 1.

​Climate Change

Also signed earlier this year was CalChamber-backed legislation to reduce costs of complying with the state’s climate change program. AB 398 (E. Garcia; D-Coachella)provides regulatory certainty for California businesses, helps maintain a healthy economy and provides the least costly path to achieving California’s climate goals by extending the cap-and-trade program to 2030 by providing market mechanisms rather than government command-and-control.

A related constitutional amendment, ACA 1 (Mayes; R-Yucca Valley), will—if approved by voters—set up a legislative “check-up” of the cap-and-trade program in 2024, including a review of spending and the effectiveness of the program in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Health Care

A proposal to create a new single-payer health care system, SB 562 (Lara; D-Bell Gardens), stalled this year after facing opposition from the CalChamber and others who highlighted problems with a government-run, multibillion-dollar system financed by an unspecified and undeveloped “revenue plan.” The issue is likely to be revived in 2018.

Housing

Several CalChamber-supported bills were part of a package of legislation signed by the Governor to ease the housing crisis. The CalChamber-backed bills either hold local governments accountable for meeting the housing elements of their plans or aim to combat the “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) resistance that can stall needed housing projects. The bills are AB 678 (Bocanegra; D-Pacoima), SB 167 (Skinner; D-Berkeley) and AB 1515 (Daly; D-Anaheim).